Five golden rules for defining event success

Create a consistent journey

Create an experience before, during and after your event, ensure it is consistent for your audience, and measure the impact throughout, advises Pierre Vauvillier, account director at Uniplan Hong Kong.

During the event, Vauvillier says that beyond reaching out to attendees, value resides in how brands expand reach beyond the event itself. “Provide guests with platforms to curate their experiences and tools to share them, such as a connected photobooth. Your KPIs will be engagement rates and shares.”

Generate media coverage

Focus on what’s new, forward thinking or particularly unique about the event. “It might be the launch of an intuitive new product or the deployment of new tech that transforms audience experience,” says Sarah Mayo, marketing director at FreemanXP EMEA. “We talk about personalising the event for attendees and we should do the same for the media.”

Pictures and video are a great way to attract attention—Mayo suggests that high-quality photos and footage that can be shared during and post-event can help gain traction.

Cultivate relationships

Optimising media coverage is also about building rapport with media partners. Michael Fong, general manager at Plus Communications, a Pico+ company, says that it’s now easier than ever to create and nurture these relationships.

“Reach out and connect to media partners’ social media channels and make sure you stay in touch frequently, before during, and after any event, but at other times as well,” he suggests. “Active, engaged relationships keep everybody switched on and interested.”

Increasing ROI and attendee satisfaction

Attendee satisfaction and ROI go hand in hand, says Niru Desai, VP, strategy at FreemanXP EMEA. She believes Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, a theory in psychology, underlines much of what can be done around attendee satisfaction, as its five components mirror the different stages visitors experience during a business event.

“The Hierarchy’s basic needs stage represents attendees’ first point of contact with an event and includes registration and signage,” explains Desai. “If not done right, it can affect how an individual will enjoy the rest of the day.”

She adds that they will be less open to networking as they reach the physiological needs stage, which centres around human connections, if their basic needs haven’t been met. Similarly, this can affect the self-actualisation stage, which relates to the professional and personal growth an attendee will take away from an event.

Optimise use of online media

Take advantage of the fact that online channels allow and encourage more audience interaction by tailor-making incentives for different guests.